Dolphus

Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Dolphus has been given to 1,245 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1930, with 37 recorded.

Babies named Dolphus, 1978

1 in 529,000

Dolphus over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dolphus: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dolphus means

Dolphus is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Dolphus is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,245 boys were recorded with the name Dolphus between 1880 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 37 in 1930; its best national rank was #506 in 1885.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Dolphus?

Dolphus had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1978, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1978: 1 in 529,000; 6 of 3,173,639 births
Among boys only: 1 in 274,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1978: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 366,634 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Dolphus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1978 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 366,634 children born in 1978 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dolphus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dolphuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dolphus was born before 1930 — so the typical Dolphus is around 95 today.

Median birth year: 1930; About 95 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 20.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 14.9%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 255; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 20.2% of all recorded uses (251).

Is Dolphus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1930 (37)
Years since peak: 95; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 31.4% average annual change
Best rank ever: #506; 1885

Spellings of Dolphus

Dolphus is not the most common spelling — Adolphus is, with 68.7% against Dolphus's 20.8%.

Adolphus68.7%4,109
Dolphus20.8%1,245
Dolph10.5%626

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Dolphus is used

Across 1910–2025, Dolphus was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 340,932 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Alabama1 in 100,000
2Georgia1 in 100,000
3Florida1 in —
4Mississippi1 in —
5North Carolina1 in —
6Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Dolphus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dolphus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #506; 1885
Peak year: 1930; 37 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 1978
All-time count: 1,245
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Dolphus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Dolores Pinchus Dolton Dolan Josephus Dolph Cephus Kashus Cashus Cleophus Adolphus Dollie Joshus Alphus Bocephus Dolly Dolphis Delphus Dolen Xanthus Doll Dalphus Orphus Rudolphus

Sibling names for Dolphus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Billy Ardith Roma Marvel Bobby Socorro Josefina Ofelia

For a brother

Carrol Normand Gaylord Mary Frances Sanford Jules Bud

Explore around Dolphus

Top names of 1930, Dolphus's peak year The 1930s in full Other names that peaked in 1885 Boys' names starting with D